Four-eyed Mustangs appear with far less regularity than the later examples with their flush headlamps, and for that reason alone, I dig cars like this 1985 Mustang GT. The GT obviously is the one to buy, with its unique side molding, dual exhaust, polished wheels, and of course, the 5.0L V8 under the hood. With any performance car, the biggest obstacle is finding one that hasn’t been modified or otherwise beaten on, and this example listed here on eBay with under 50,000 miles seems to fit the bill. The seller is looking for better than the current bid price, as it’s currently sitting at $10,700 with the reserve unmet.
The ruby red paint appears to be in excellent condition, as it gleams nicely in the Florida sun in the photos. The dual exhaust does look like the factory set-up, and the listing makes no reference to it being swapped out for an aftermarket setup. The GT badges on the lower rear quarter panel are one of my favorite featured of these earlier cars, and I wish Ford had continued to use them on the later Fox-bodies. There’s zero evidence of any troublesome rust in vulnerable spots like the fenders or lower sills, so I’d say it’s safe to call this one a rust-free example. The windows retain factory tint and haven’t been blacked out like so many other Florida cars, and it reminds me how much I prefer the light-touch approach to tinting.
GT cars also got a nicely upgraded interior, with deeply-bolstered bucket seats that are sometimes referred to as Recaros; however, I don’t believe these are factory Recaros as much as they just look like Recaro seats from the same period. Like the E30-chassis 3-Series, I’m sure one of the big aftermarket seat makers like Recaro or Flo-Fit had a hand in the design, but a more well-versed Fox-body expert will have to confirm that for us. The bottom line is the interior is in excellent condition with no signs of wear and tear. Even a low-mileage specimen can show signs of abuse in the form of collapsed seat bolsters, so it’s encouraging to see one with no such damage. This Mustang is loaded up with air conditioning, cruise control, full power, and factory stereo cassette.
Under the hood is a familiar sight, but more surprising is the bone-stock appearance. This Mustang GT wasn’t necessarily preserved like a collector’s item with under 10,000 original miles, but the previous owner(s) very clearly placed an emphasis on careful use. The seller claims it runs and drives fantastic, but even so, we’d like to see some reports of recent maintenance, even just to ensure the next owner can drive this one home tomorrow without concerns about a belt failing or the tires being dry-rotted. Hopefully, there’s a paper trail somewhere that further supports the obvious levels of attention to detail we can see in the photos. Where do you think bidding needs to be to clear the reserve?
I’m having a nostalgic moment. I remember driving somewhat irresponsibly in an 82 like this. But price seems high if you don’t have an emotional connection. These cars had relatively pedestrian performance compared to more modern vehicles
The 1985-1986 Four-Eyes are probably the most popular. This is a nice example. For many the automatic transmission will hold back the interest. Nice to see one which has had excellent care, and it will bring solid money.
When you have to play detective and hunt through the pictures and description it’s almost always a sure bet that it’s an automatic.
My mom had the non-GT version. Likely the 2.3L-4. I was surprised that she had purchased something that sporty-ish. But she was coming out of a 1980 Citation. Was a fun car that I eventually bought from her.
Nice-looking example and the four-eyes sure look better than the aero nose ones to me at least. As a performance car, though, AOD cars with the CFI injection like this were down 30 hp (to 180) compared to the 5-speed cars with the Holley 4-barrel (210 hp), though torque was only down slightly. So more of a cruiser than a performance car. You get the performance car looks without the performance.
That was a major issue on the ’85’s with auto’s not even remotely close to the 5 spd. cars in terms of performance. No roller cam, much smaller cam, no headers etc. choked down by essentially a 2 barrel throttle body. By ’86 this was resolved so one had equal power and engine whether it was an auto or a stick.
Great shape. A buddy of mine had a 1985 GT with this EFI/automatic combo back in the 1986-88 era. I drove it several times, including during a snow storm once. It was ok. Pretty quick in the context of the times. Never timed it but it could beat a V-6 Fiero GT, I do know that! That was the only race I ever got into with it.
I’d be curious to see the performance times v. the 5-speed. Does anyone know? The car mags pretty much ignored these and only tested the 4-bbl manual version.
Instead of a high 14 to low 15 second quarter mile car with the manual and 3.08 gears the auto car was running in the 16’s at best. The auto car fell on its face after 4500 rpm. Hence the significant price differential between the auto and stick cars.
Seat of the pants told me it probably ran in the high 15s or low 16s. But still, that’s considerably slower than the mid to high 14s the 5 speeds ran. If this was a manual, it probably clears $20,000.
https://www.automobile-catalog.com
Yup. 7.7/15.9. I was about right No barn burner by any stretch but it would beat the Monte Carlo SS’s and Olds 442s of the time.
https://www.automobile-catalog.com/make/ford_usa/mustang_3gen/mustang_3gen_gt_3-door/1985.html
The seats were made by Lear Seating.
I like a hatch.
These currently rise in the market (10 yrs now?) and will continue for nother decade or so if the past can be relied on. Plenty of aftr mrkt suport too (parts, “clubs”, net forums…
It’s a shame this car was ordered with an automatic transmission. That automatically gives it the ~165 hp tbi 5.0 instead of the 210 hp Holley equipped 5.0 with the 5 speed!